SUPPORT

Newsletter

DIPOL Weekly Review - TV and SAT TV, CCTV, WLAN

No. 9/2009 (March 2, 2009)

PRAGOALARM - new trends in the security market.PRAGOALARM and PRAGOSEC fair took place in Prague between February 24 - 26, 2009. At the leading world (IFSEC - Birmingham) and regional (Security Essen, ISC West Las Vegas, SecuTech - Taipei) specialized fairs, the manufacturers often show new solutions, testing the market. Many of the solutions are still in the design phase, and a considerable part of them will never be accepted by the market. This is different to national fairs. Most who participate in the events are distributors, the only solutions presented are trade offers, majority of the devices have proved their market value and the companies sell them on a regular basis. Pragoalarm/Pragosec is focused mainly on Czech and Slovak market, so it is an interesting overview of the prevailing trends in the security sector of these countries.

The main tendencies that could be observed:

strong reduction of simple alarm systems installed in buildings - majority of the functions of control centers/panels become a part of the basic hardware and software solutions implemented in DVRs/NVRs - only several companies offered intrusion alarm systems and equipment,

growing role of biometric access control systems,

wide offer of CCTV devices for end users (compact cameras with IR illuminators, simple DVRs), which is connected with increasing interest of small property and business owners (e.g. one-family homes, small stores),

professional CCTV systems are dominated by megapixel solutions; PTZ cameras, so popular in recent years in city surveillance, become "less visible",

the largest stands were occupied by Siemens - due to special interest in Czech market (company's exposition), and by Samsung - due to unquestioned leadership in electronics (exposition organized by the distributor),

A strong point of the event was participation of the Czech and Slovak DIPOL associates, presenting an offer of megapixel cameras for city monitoring. The recordings from the video surveillance system in Tvrdosin, Slovakia, made with use of 2 Mpix cameras and the live broadcast from the viewing camera pointed at Wawel Royal Castle in Krakow, Poland, gained a wide interest because of high video quality. During the conference, Mr. Patrik Serek from DIPOL Slovakia gave a lecture entitled "Megapixel revolution in city video surveillance".

Monitoring of the Spirit Way - where is it? The Spirit Way, symbolizing the passage from one world to another, is a part of the seven kilometer road to the necropolis of an emperor dynasty, with sixteen emperors buried there. The way is lined with statues of guardian animals and officials that are in turn monitored by CCTV cameras. The cameras are installed on wooden poles - rather untypical but really ecological and economical solution.

The Spirit Way - where is it? The answer at the end of this issue

Flexible configuration of satellite and terrestrial TV installation in a one-family home. In such houses the antenna systems are often made by individuals or small firms that usually do not use terrestrial TV signal meters (like R10502). Without knowing the actual levels of the signals it is a risky thing to use multiswitches with active terrestrial path (possibility of overdriving). A simple solution to such problems is application of the multiswitch with passive terrestrial path (MS-952 R70952) which accepts even the highest levels of TV channels. Additional advantage of this model is possibility of easy extension of the installation (next outlets) using the cascadable multiswitch MS-951 R70951.

Some variants of antenna systems based on high quality MS-952 R70952 multiswitches from Terra:

Safe cables. Safety regulations for public buildings that house many people (hospitals, schools, theaters) require that during a fire the cabling cannot pose an additional threat to the life or health of the people. The cables have to be halogen free (HF) - they cannot give off toxic gases. When burned, the cables also cannot feed the fire, emit thick or corrosive fumes. It is not permissible to use compounds of chlorine, fluorine, bromine, or iodine - the halogen compounds hazardous to health (carcinogenic) that would be emitted at high temperatures. Cables in PVC sheath (containing chlorine) and those based on polyethylene and polypropylene (admixture of bromine) are halogen cables. In the mentioned halogen-free cables there are used more expensive aluminum compounds instead.

The fire-safe cables belong to the FRNC/LSOH group, i.e.:

FR (Flame Retardant)

NC (Non Corrosive)

LS (Low Smoke)

OH (Zero Halogen) or ZH (Zero Halogen).

The new cables from TRISET family - TRISET-113 HF E1019 and TRISET-11HF E1029 are manufactured using HF (halogen free) technology. When burned, they do not emit toxic gases. The halogen-free TRISET cables belong to NC/LSOH group, i.e. they do not emit corrosive fumes (Non Corrosive), or much smoke (Low Smoke), or, of course, halogen compounds (OH - Zero Halogen, sometimes marked as ZH). The both cables comply with EN 50268-1,2 - (low smoke) and EN 50267-2-2 (non-corrosive, halogen free).

TRISET family has been awarded at SatKrak 2007 (international satellite trade fair in Krakow). Due to low loss, high screening efficiency, and perfect matching, TRISET cables ensure high performance of multiswitch systems and large cable installations (MATV, cable TV).

ULTIMAX DVRs - backup of surveillance recordings. ULTIMAX DVRs of the 500 series (M75160, M75080, M75040) and 700 series (M77160, M77080) can house up to eight hard drives, each of capacity up to 2 TB. It allows to archive an immense data volume from a very long period of recording many channels (cameras). Of course, the length of the period depends on the recording parameters and mode of operation. The required capacity of the HDDs can be estimated with the dedicated calculator. If the DVR uses at least two HDDs, one of them can be defined as the backup drive. The copy can be made e.g. once a day, which ensures protection of the surveillance data in case of a hard drive failure.

The backup of the archives can also be made with the use of:

network connection (network client program, Internet browser),

USB interface (flash memory, external HDD, external DVD writer),

SATA interface (for a DVD writer to be built-in; thanks to DVD/CD Drive Assembly Kit M77950 it is quite a simple task).

Due to low transfer rates the above backup methods are suitable only for short clips (covering important events etc.). For intensive use and larger volumes the user should utilize special eSATA interface to be located on the rear panel. It will be helpful to use the optional eSATA cable M77981 and special SATA drive bay. SATA connection offers 200 times higher transfer rates than USB 1.0 interface.

ULTISYSTEM - a unique and honored surveillance software - relay output extension.ULTISYSTEM software can cooperate with gate automation, lighting control, burglar and fire alarm systems, access control etc., utilizing relay outputs of the connected IP devices. Use of the extension allows to integrate ULTISYSTEM with these systems in order to control them remotely in a centralized way. The control functions can be executed by the operator (through the control panel) e.g. switching on/off the systems, switching on/off alarm signals etc. Some functions can be programmed according to time schedule. ULTISYSTEM software allows to configure the system so that the outputs are activated automatically by motion or sound detection, triggered by adequate alarm inputs or defined events. The configuration is to be performed in "Output settings" panel and schedule settings.

Megapixel monitoring of a store. Densy B&W Technics is an electronics store, well known in Bulgaria. To protect the goods from theft the owner decided to install a monitoring system. After comparison of images from VGA, D1, and 1.3 Mpix cameras, the owner has chosen the latter kind that ensures high quality and detailed images. The cameras used (ACM4200 K1510) allow to implement cost-effective IP CCTV solutions for stores, offices, businesses etc. The color IP cameras provide images with resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels at 8 frames per second - detailed and smooth video ideal for surveillance purposes in business environments. IP technology enables the owner, security manager etc. to manage the system from any place with adequate Internet connectivity. The system in the store is based on NVR Enterprise, centralized management software from ACTi.

Transmission of video streams from ULTIMAX DVR via ULTIAIR devices. ULTIMAX DVR supports client application. The clients can access, via the Internet, live video channels and recorded archives. The DVR can also be connected to a local network and simultaneously transmit video via radio link to a client located in another building.

To connect the two buildings via a wireless link we recommend to employ in the first one ULTIAIR N2300 or N2301 (configured as AP), in the second - ULTIAIR N2310 or N2311 (configured as Client).

Wawel in Krakow through online camera. DIPOL has installed in Krakow 2.0 Mpx IP camera ULTICAM DS-852MF-E K1441 available online on the Internet. This online application utilizes the built-in RTSP protocol, enabling real-time transmission of video and sound. The data stream is changed by an external server into FLV file format viewable on most operating systems. This format is used e.g. by YouTube and Google Video. The system is capable of providing simultaneous service for up to 100 Internet users.

Megapixel camera ULTICAM DS-852MF-E K1441 is equipped with 1/3" CMOS sensor. Its native resolution is 1600x1200 (UXGA). It provides MPEG-4 video stream of the UXGA resolution at 12.5 fps. The administrator can define 15 levels of access rights. With a F1.2 lens, the camera has sensitivity of 0.5 lx. This high sensitivity and low noise image sensor allow to capture "snow-free" images even in low-light conditions.

Chang Ling - China. In the tombs of Chang Ling, some 45 km due north-west of Beijing, Ming Dynasty Emperors were buried (1368 - 1644). In the picture - the statue of Yongle Emperor (1403 - 1424), who moved the capital of China from Nanjing to the present location of northwest Beijing and began to build the Imperial Palace (the Forbidden City). After death in 1424 his body was burnt and buried in Chang Ling. This bronze statue is now in the Hall of Prominent Favor.

We have written about:

Connectors for multiswitch systems. The connectors used in multiswitch installations make up a small part of the overall costs, but are very important for signal quality, reliability of the system, and - last but not least - they condition labor consumption during the installation work... - archive DWR of Jan. 28, 2008.

Active video transmitters. Doing a CCTV installation it is often convenient to use thin cables. Sometimes one needs long cables, over 150 meters... - archive DWR of Jan. 21, 2008.

NUUO Network Video Recorders - safe and efficient surveillance video recording. NUUO - a well known world manufacturer of IP surveillance software - has introduced hardware digital surveillance recorders for cooperation with IP cameras: four-channel K4104 and eight-channel K4108. The devices can operate autonomously using the embedded software. They have been designed for recording images from IP cameras of standard and megapixel resolution... - Library